Pimpin' Ain't Easy

I got back from Missoula with a short window of fishing opportunity today.  By the looks of the incoming clouds before I left my house, I figured I'd have my work cut out for me with the carp.  Once I got to the reservoir and the thermometer on my truck read 39 degrees, I knew I was in purgatory.

Sure, they were on the flats...but this cold front totally shut them down.  Like a bunch of melted orange creamsicles stuck on the bottom of a freezer.  After about an hour of casting practice to carp that couldn't give half a crap about my delightful presentation, I decided it was time to come up with a "Plan B."

This was "trout weather" for sure, but the South Fork and the Henry's Fork were each over an hour away and I only had about 90 minutes of free time left.  Hmmm, what to do?

I decided to fish the tailwater below the reservoir.  This particular river holds a bunch of sterile (i.e. non-spawning) Kamloops rainbows that escape the reservoir each year.  When I got down there, I noticed a pretty prolific baetis hatch.  "Great," I thought, "except I brought a 7-weight and a box full of carp flies."

Carp on the lower Snake River like humongous black leeches, so I still had a bunch of those in the fly box from my trip down there a couple of weeks ago.  Thus, it was time to swing some leechzillas.

Once again, trout saved the day...